these are the golden years

the new 8freight has landed

It’s been noted here – Rosh Hashanah before last – that those of us who choose to travel by bike, in this period in history, are winning. The irrational ‘you-people-are-all-the-same’ opprobrium we may attract, only for the innocent act of slinging a leg over a push-iron, is – most likely – motivated by a brew of jealousy and fear. The people who don’t ride secretly know we’re making the right choice and can feel the rising tide of bicycle madness creeping towards their toes like a spring tide.

If you rode a bike during the era of the vanishing tribe – before 1992 – then you’re well used to being treated as vermin. If you came in later, during the current era of mixed-messages, when the alternative role – heroic harbinger of better times – was also available, being treated as a problem, when you actually represent the solution to a whole raft of problems, is more likely to rankle.